Praise For Comeau, Other Ramblings

I was creeping through a friend’s profile pics on facebook, and found this gem. Yeah.

Annnnnd we’re off!

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I won’t be FJM’ing Lambert’s links today, cause I don’t wanna run that gimmick into the ground too quickly, and I’m starting the week on a Tuesday (sorry). That said, yesterday’s was great, so go check it out here. My Puck Daddy column from Friday was basically “You’re team is 1-0? Go crazy.” It’s here.

For those who want to tune in, tomorrow I’m on HNIC radio at 5:30 pm EST for 25 minutes or so, should be fun. (CBC Sports – Sirius Satellite Channel 97 and 127)

*****

Many people predicted SNL’s new impressionist, Jay Pharoah, would blow up quick as soon as he got the chance to showcase his stuff this season. His Denzel from Saturday was so bang-on… I mean, just watch. You have to watch (“you knew what color it was when you brought it home.”). My only tiny fear is that every skit he’s in is going to die like the last one – a few minutes to showcase how great he is, then a story that fizzles. But whatever. He’s awesome.

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Hoptober Golden Ale, by New Belgium. I generally don’t like hoppy beer, but found this one to be deeee-ricious. Getcher self some.

*****

So, the New York Islanders beat the New York Rangers (ha!) 6-4 yesterday in a matinee game. A game in which they trailed 4-3 with seven minutes to go in the third period, and were without Streit, Okposo, and Tavares.

I simply could not have been more impressed with Josh Bailey or Blake Comeau.

Much improved.

I’ve said this before about Blake: When we used to skate together in the summers, and he was near the end of his junior career (and in his AHL days) I was always super-impressed with his talent level. I mean really, in a game with Dany Heatley, Duncan Keith, Shea Weber and more, I always thought Blake had the best hands.

So when we were both at Islanders camp and Blake was out there hitting as a priority, I wasn’t sure what to think. Basically, I figured he was foregoing a chance to be a top six skill guy in the league by trying to make the sacrifice, become a grinder, and get into the league early.

Well, nobody in the history of hockey walked into a better situation for getting to use and develop their skills - he started playing for the Isles right when they were having a ton of injuries and had a bad team, so he got a lot of minutes early (I know a player drafted by Detroit in the past ten years who was a great player, but never made the team cause there’s never an open spots). And over the past few seasons, he’s been given the time and opportunity to develop slowly, so he’s going to be able to go from grinder to skill player.

He looked like a top six forward to me yesterday, I can tell you that much. If he can continue to use some of that physical play with his offensive contributions, he’ll be a hell of an asset for the Isles. Impressive.

Blake will be doing an interview with me for Puck Daddy this week – my intent is to not ask specific questions like a real reporter anymore, but to just generally BS about the life of an NHLer, the way my columns tend to do.

Okay, that was a lot of praise for one player in one post, so I’ll touch on Josh Bailey tomorrow – just know for now that I think Bailey could be not just a good player, but an NHL all-star someday. Looks incredible so far this year.

*****

As for our boy James Winiewski…. too bad he was such a buffoon last game, cause I’d love to praise his play too. Check out my column today for Puck Daddy, about On-Ice Taunting.

Hope things are going well for everyone – it’s just another 88 degree October day here. …maybe I’ll go swimming….

Before I sign off, here’s three pictures of my cat when he’s not on his back, just so you know he can, believe it or not, walk:

Comments

Even though I had work yesterday, I was able to accomplish the super-rare feat of watching the game on DVR 4hrs after it ended without knowing a single thing about the game. Great game. Comeau looks awesome, and I couldn’t agree more about Bailey. Last season I got the feeling that he wasn’t worth any of the hype of a top 10 draft pick, and these two games changed all that. That pass to Comeau was incredible; who in the world waits and holds the puck that long when they’re 2ft in front of the net. Thats usually “OMGI’mRightThereShootShootShoot” zone.

So here’s a question for some pro-perspective (pro-spective?); How hard do the guys celebrate a win after a matinee game that night?

Will – I shit you not, Bri (my fiancee) got a text from her Dad…. he was at the Jets game with Comeau, Bruno Gervais and some of the other guys, somehow. Basically, I think they went out (Clark joined), had a few pops, and headed to the game. It poured and the game took forever, AND the Jets won, would’ve been easy to tie one one. That said, I bet they had a few, but the Meadowlands is too far away to get crushed at and then have to find a way home.

Thats pretty sweet. I’m also a Jets fan, and last nights game had me going crazy. I was going to go to bed at the end of the 3rd quarter, but then Favre went and got all f’n crazy and made it a game. That weather was unreal though, at the end of the 1st half you could barely see them on TV, never seen them play in rain like that. The Jets got hosed though, if it wasn’t for the rain they would have gotten that touchdown I think, and that would have been huge later.

Just goes to prove; It’ll take an act of God to stop the Jets this season

good article on puckdaddy. Everyone seems a little shocked at the bobblehead impression that Winiewski gave to Avery. When the behind the scenes, miked up on ice thing goes on for the caps/pens game, will any suspensions/fines/OMGWHATWERETHEYTHINKING!!! come out of it? or will bettman actually let them play and be themselves on the ice??

On a more serious note, I think I may haver seriously underestimated Comeau and Bailey. I only saw them a couple times each last year, but they looked legit yesterday. I thought they both would top out as good second liners, but if they can build on that performace they may be there now. I think Bailey was rushed and should only be a rookie now, but it looks like he wasn’t damaged too much by that. I think this year is huge for him. With the guys injured and how thin they are up front, he has the opportunity for top minutes at both even strength and on the pp that he might not get in the future if he can’t light it up this year.

Second, the on-ice buffoonery…I definitely can see that there would be a great deal of awful, awful between whistle banter. Every once in a while, though, you get gems from someone that is very skilled (such as Sean Avery) in the ways of taunting. My personal favorite is (to no one’s surprise a Wild player) Cal Clutterbuck. Some of my favorites:

To Ryan Kesler: Does it suck playing the entire game with your visor resting on your nose?
To Dion Phaneuf (around the Olympic Break): So, excited to get to Vancouver next week?

You lot won’t believe this, but that dignified, gentlemanly game of cricket has some of the best ‘between play’ taunting. It’s called sledging and is often directed at the batsmen by the bowlers or the close fielders. Occasionally you can pick it up on the stump microphones. Some of my faves:

McGrath: ” Why are you so fat?”
Brandes: “Because every time I make love to your wife, she gives me a biscuit .”

Waugh to Parore: “Oh, I remember you from a couple years ago in Australia. You were s–t then, you’re f’ing useless now.”
Parore: “That’s me, and when I was there you were going out with that old, ugly sl-t and now I hear you’ve married her. You dumb c—.”

Pakistan great Javed Miandad branded Australian paceman Merv Hughes a fat bus conductor. When Merv got the best of Javed, he raced past him to celebrate with a cry of “Tickets please!”

Merv Hughes to Robin Smith: “You can’t f’ing bat, mate.”
Smith sent the next delivery to the fence, and replied: “Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can’t f’ing bat and you can’t f’ing bowl.”

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About Justin Bourne

I'm a hockey player turned writer. After playing for Alaska Anchorage in the WCHA (NCAA), I carried on with an NHL tryout (New York Islanders in 2007) before spending a couple seasons in the AHL/ECHL (last year was 2008-09). My father, Bob Bourne, won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders in the '80's, as did my fiancee's dad, Clark Gillies. I'm now the web editor for theScore's hockey blog "Backhand Shelf."

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To my Mom, Dad, Glenn, brother Jeff and my fiance Brianna... thank you, I love you guys. Also, Uncle Ken, you've been an immeasurable help in this and I'm infinitely grateful. All my love to Aunt Kathy and Grandma, two of my favourite people in the world. Also to the extended family in Saskatchewan, I miss you guys. Thanks to friends like Neil Corbett and Dave Cunning for your support in an obscure endevour like this, and to friends like Charlie Kronschnabel and Nick Lowe for being guys who'll like me and not care (or possibly ask) why or what weird project I'm scheming on now. And thanks to all you long-lost-but-still-important friends I didn't mention. You know who you are.